I’m happy to be back today. I was suffering one of the less pleasant side effects of this parathyroid tumor…just another reason to get this thing taken care of as soon as possible. I’d say by this time next month, I should be well on the road to feeling like my old self. Big prayers, anyway!

Yesterday was the most beautiful day. One of those really rare treats in a West Virginia winter…a crystal clear blue sky…not a cloud in sight. I slept soundly in the guest bedroom and didn’t awaken till late morning, but when I got up my guy was waiting for me with a great big smile. I always feel so much better when I see my sweet man. I told him we could NOT waste a minute of a beautiful day like this. Within a half hour, we were on the road to run some errands in town. 

We bought birdseed, picked up prescriptions, went to the grocery store, and stopped for Chinese food on the way home. I was telling sue the other night…I have a cross between severe cabin fever and agoraphobia. Something had to go…I needed out of this house. We are exceedingly careful when we go out. We even wear disposable gloves when we go shopping. Lots of hand sanitizer, masks, and we wait our turn going down aisles.

I saw this picture online yesterday and it reminded me…we’ve been down this road before. The very first polio outbreak occurred in Rutland County, Vermont. There were eighteen deaths and 132 cases of permanent paralysis reported. They felt at the time polio wasn’t contagious because families with many children only reported one becoming ill. It wasn’t until 1905 the contagious nature of the disease became apparent. 

Once the contagion was noted, it took another three years to identify the virus. Outbreaks occurred every summer, but it wasn’t until 1916 that it spread like wildfire in the crowded population of New York City. That summer, around 6,000 Americans died from polio and thousands more were left permanently paralyzed. From that point on, summers ran rampant with polio infections and pools, playgrounds and amusement parks were closed to attempt to mitigate the illness.

FDR fell ill with polio in 1921. He was very self-conscious about being seen in his wheelchair so he often used braces and canes in an attempt to look like he could walk. The iron lung was patented in 1929…the predecessor of the ventilator. I remember hearing about people in iron lungs that rested on two kitchen chairs in their living rooms. It was really scary.

Vaccine trials began in 1935. Then, in 1952, there was a huge surge in cases. In 1953, Jonas Salk gave his own family the first polio vaccine which he had discovered. In 1954, huge vaccine trials began then in 1955, the results were reported. Unfortunately, there were problems with that initial vaccine. It was through that research that scientists discovered there was an issue with the treatment of the vaccine itself and immunizations were suspended. 

After the vaccine made by Albert Sabin was licensed in 1960 with a single strain of polio, but by 1963, there was an oral polio vaccine that contained all three strains of the virus. Those are the little pink drops people in my generation remember receiving on a sugar cube. And summers became free again.

This photo shows children being home schooled in 1937, listening to their teacher read their lessons on the radio. We made it through that period of time. Science now knows so much more about vaccines and the ways to deliver them. We have access to gene splicing and the mRNA carrier that delivers a small segment of the virus. Not enough to make you sick, but enough to tell your immune system… “THIS is what you want to kill when you see it.”

I know it seemed like this vaccine came on board so quickly, but the research has been in the works for years. We were blessed to have this technology available because without it, we surely wouldn’t have the ability to vaccinate the public against this scourge. The problem we are facing now is a race to get as many people as possible vaccinated before the virus mutates to the point the vaccine doesn’t work. Boosters are already being developed that will cover mutations. This is much like what occurs in the yearly flu vaccine. 

One of the most surprising observations during this pandemic is…the flu season just didn’t show up. Why? Because, we are wearing masks, we are washing our hands and using hand sanitizers, and we are keeping our distance and avoiding crowded areas. There are many lessons we can learn in what is happening now. We can be a resilient people. We have been before…we can be again. All those people who die every year during the flu season? Well, if we were more of a mask wearing culture, we could keep that number down, as well. 

We are having to adapt to a different life now. We’ve had it pretty darned easy all these years. If we could have gotten a hold on this in the beginning, we’d be in a different place now, but that’s water under the bridge. This is where we are now. So, this is where we need to build our new foundation for the future. Getting the vaccine into arms is a monumental undertaking. I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished here in West Virginia. Governor Jim Justice and his team have done a tremendous job of showing the country how it’s done. 

It’s coming…help is on the way!

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““ ‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.”

Jeremiah 33:6 NIV